As You Have Believed

Share

King James Bible StudyAnd when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Wednesday, October 07, 2020
Chapters: Matthew 8, Mark 2
Message: As You Have Believed

Hello My Friend,

In the past several months I have truly come to understand how merciful and longsuffering God is. As much as I fail Him, He never fails me, and is always faithful. I believe God’s faithfulness is dependent on two things, our faithfulness to Him, and repentance. We tend to think of repentance as a one time shot, you must turn away from your sin or be condemned for the rest of your life, and that is where longsuffering comes in. Yes, we are to turn away from our sin, it is longsuffering that helps us remove that sin without the fear that should we slip up we will be condemned. Instead we repent again, and work at it once more, [1 Timothy 1:15-16  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.]

[for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe] You know the saying, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?” Most people do not see Jesus through the ones who think they have no sin in their lives, He is seen through the every day, faithful, mess of a person who knows that they need Christ every second of the day. You see, our faith plays a big part in His longsuffering, if we do not believe that He cannot help us, then He will not help us. As Jesus began to preach multitudes followed Him wherever He went, and while many did not believe, quite a few did. Four men had so much faith in Jesus to heal their paralyzed friend that they climbed up on top of a roof and lowered him down a pulley to reach Him.

[Mark 2:1-8  And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.  2  And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.  3  And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.  4  And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.  5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.  6  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,  7  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?]

[Why reason ye these things] The ones who think they have no sin are the ones who see the need to watch every move we make and call out things that really are not sin. Being faithful to God does not mean we are not going to mess up, it means that when we do we come to Him for forgiveness, [I John 1:7-10  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.]

We have great faith in Jesus being our Saviour, if we are truly honest with ourselves we will admit that we have very little faith in Him being our physician, our comforter, our strength, or our provider. It often takes our seeing the faith in others before we find faith ourselves, news got out fast that Jesus healed the man sick of the palsy, a Roman commander came to Jesus asking Him to heal one of his soldiers who had the same thing.

[Matthew 8:5-8,10,13  And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,  6  And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.  7  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.  8  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 10  When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 13  And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.]

[so be it done unto thee.] Everything we receive from God is dependent upon our faith. In some cases our infirmities remain so they can be used to show Jesus through them, [II Corinthians 12:8-10  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.]

You know, the biggest deterrent that keeps people from coming to Jesus is religion, every move that Jesus made was questioned by the religious Pharisees. Jesus sees a man named Levi, He calls on Him to follow Him, and immediately he left what he was doing and brought Him to his home for dinner. Of course, people followed, including Pharisees as they question why Jesus was there among a bunch of sinners.

[Mark 2:13-17  And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.  14  And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.  15  And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.  16  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?  17  When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.]

[How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?] Do you think that Jesus does not know who questions Him? And yet He always had the right answer to put them in their place. I had someone ask me why Jesus would come back when he has given up on the human race. This is why we always need avoid foolish questions, but always be prepared to answer them in truth, [I Peter 3:15-16  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:  16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.]

We have a choice, do what we need to do by faith and let God handle the rest, or do everything on our own and dig ourselves into a hole that we cannot get out of. We have to accept that whether we allow Christ in our lives or not that we are still going to suffer from time to time. Christ suffered as well, no one suffered more than He did, but He got through it and lived to tell about it. If we allow Christ to live in and through us, He will give us the strength to endure the affliction. You see, all affliction that is not self inflicted comes from the devil, and while the devil does think he is God, even he is under authority of God. When God tells him tells him to back off he must obey. As Jesus was sailing by boat to Gergesenes he was confronted by two men possessed by spirits.

[Matthew 8:28-32  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.  29  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?  30  And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.  31  So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.  32  And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.]

[suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.] Satan has to get permission from God to do anything, he knows his time is coming to an end and will do everything possible to get those whom have already received Christ to doubt their faith. Once a person accepts Christ as their Saviour it is for eternity, and nothing or no one can take away our salvation, [John 10:28-29  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I know that You reward those who not only receive You as their Saviour, but are faithful to You. As I walk by faith, I know I will face infirmities, and even know that You may not remove them all. You have gone before me and cleared the way so that I might follow in Your footsteps and do what it is that You call me to do. Lord, please answer my prayers as I have believed, I am comforted in knowing that I do not walk alone, but walk hand in hand with You as my Guide. May I endure, and see the purpose of all my infirmities with the full assurance that my faith and work is not in vain. In Your name Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/

Copyright © 2020 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *